Making the World a Better Place – One Review at a Time

New on DVD

Alice in WonderlandRated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
What do the critics know? After all, this Tim Burton juggernaut of an adaptation just became the sixth picture to join the prestigious billion dollar club. So obviously audiences found something great here. For some reason I still can’t though. I’m just not that in love with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton that I can enjoy their films when they are this poorly told. Just because there are a lot of weird and strange little things going on for two hours and just because the production design (which director Tim Burton is probably best known for anyhow) is pretty amazing, the picture is still not very entertaining. For something that looks so original on the outside, the story turns out to be so unimaginative. I am glad that Disney decided to include a ton of special features on how they made the film, since that is a little more interesting than the film itself. C

The WolfmanRated R for bloody horror violence and gore
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins star in this remake of the 1941 horror classic about a man that visits his ancestral homeland to investigate the death of his brother only to find himself bitten by a creature trying to kill him, thus turning him into the legendary half-man, half-beast. The wolfman bits are bunches of fun, although some might find them a little too violent for their taste. The problem is that the human parts are just plain boring. Luckily the film is only an hour-forty-five unless you watch the new director’s cut which is just at two. Sometimes the pacing of the film makes you think it is much, much longer. One really cool feature on the blu-ray version is it will let you watch the original 1941 Wolf Man and if you have a smart phone with Universal’s Pocket BLU app, you can even download both movies to your phone. B

Burn Notice: Season ThreeAvailable on DVD
Cable’s new number one series is back for season four on June 4 so USA thought they would give you two days to catch up with the season three DVDs just in case you missed out or need some brushing up. If you’ve never heard of this show, and you don’t have time to add another show to your list, then you better not watch an episode of this one because, unfortunately, it is highly addictive. Burn Notice tells the story of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donavan), a “burned” spy that has been left dry in Miami with his assets frozen. He does mercenary and PI work for hire with his partners, Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell, to raise money both to live on and investigate who burned him in the first place. To make matters worse for him, he now has a sexy female cop, played by Moon Bloodgood, on his trail. This is one super fun show full of style and wit and while the eye-rolling does occur from time to time, you can’t help but feel entertained. B